Man who died in Cybertruck explosion outside Las Vegas Trump hotel ID'd as Army special operations soldier

Authorities said Thursday that their investigation into an explosion that shook the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and killed one person had honed in on a distinguished United States Army veteran, but that important facts, including a motivation for the incident, remained unknown.

At a press conference, officials reported that identification belonging to Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, was discovered at the scene, where a Tesla Cybertruck caught fire after a homemade bomb was detonated in the truck's bed. Livelsberger hired the Cybertruck using the web site Turo, and the vehicle has supplied law authorities with valuable data to help them piece together its activities since it was rented in Colorado on Saturday.

Authorities stated a military ID, a passport, and credit cards discovered at the location were in Livelsberger's name, but the corpse in the Cybertruck had been "burned beyond recognition." Investigators are still waiting for DNA or medical record confirmation of the body's identification, but they do have other indications that Livelsberger died, such as tattoos on the stomach and arms. Authorities also found two handguns, one a.50-caliber Desert Eagle and a semiautomatic pistol.

"His body is burnt beyond recognition, and I do still not have confirmation 100% that that is the individual that was inside of our vehicle," sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a briefing Thursday.

McMahill stated the body retrieved from the Cybertruck had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and that a firearm was discovered at the victim's feet.

"Further complicating this identification of this individual, we also discovered through the coroner's office that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle," the sheriff continued. McMahill said one of the handguns discovered inside the vehicle after it exploded was found at the person's feet.

The Cybertruck was hired in Colorado, McMahill stated. Investigators were able to track the vehicle's travel from Denver to Las Vegas based on its visits at charging stations, and security video showed it passing past the Las Vegas Strip soon before the explosion.

The Cybertruck drove up to the glass entryway of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas just after 7:30 a.m. and detonated approximately 15 seconds later.

The sheriff informed reporters that gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters, and enormous firework mortars were recovered in the back of the vehicle, but it was unclear how the explosives were detonated.

McMahill described the explosion as "an isolated incident" with no sign of a connection to ISIS. The incident occurred only hours after a man purposefully drove a pickup truck with a black ISIS flag into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people before being fatally shot by police.

McMahill described the explosion as "an isolated incident" with no sign of a connection to ISIS. The incident occurred only hours after a man purposefully drove a pickup truck with a black ISIS flag into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people before being fatally shot by police.

The Las Vegas sheriff emphasized Thursday that the two instances were unrelated, despite certain parallels in the cases and themes. The drivers in both the Cybertruck explosion and the New Orleans rampage had hired their cars via Turo, and both were members of the US military. Each deployed in Afghanistan in 2009 and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Authorities are still investigating, but McMahill stated that there was no proof that the individuals served in the same units or areas in Afghanistan, or at Fort Bragg during the same years.

“We are absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world,” McMahill said.

McMahill stated that Tesla CEO Elon Musk assisted in tracking the vehicle's trip and provided video footage of the Cybertruck at Tesla charging stations.

Musk, who is also a member of Trump's inner circle, claimed on X that the car did not cause the explosion.

"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk wrote. "All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."

Musk has emerged as a crucial member in Trump's orbit as he prepares for a second term in the White House. The president-elect has appointed the tech mogul, along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, tasked with reducing government expenditure.